Time's Run Out and I'm Still Here
by Fidelis Scriptor
Summary: 2nd Installment of the Time's Running Out Series. With Cas running out of time and Dean out of options, Dr. Singer sets out to make sure that the Winchester-Shurleys don't make the same mistake he did. Destiel w/another secret pairing.


Author's Note: Part II of Time's Running Out. I hope you guys enjoy! Trust me, this was more than a little difficult to write. I hope you enjoy and I know there's more than one pairing in here, but honestly I don't know what happened. I just let my fingers flow over the keys.

* * *

"Hi. You must be Castiel."

"I am. May I help you?"

"My name is Dr. Ellen Harvelle. Can I come in?"

* * *

"Bobby! What are you doing here?" Dean asked, wiping his hands on a dirty rag. He motioned for Adam to take over changing the transmission of Mr. Lecter's car, while he went over to the man standing at the opening of the garage. "I thought you were going to go check on Cas."

"I sent a friend. Dean, do you remember Ellen Harvelle?"

"Ellen? Yeah, she was Mama's best friend back in high school and she delivered Sammy when Missouri retired. Last I heard she was running a bar down South. Why?"

The older man sighed and motioned for Dean to follow him out into the brisk Kansas weather. With the arrival of fall, so had the arrival of Cas' last few months. Everyone had noticed how Cas became paler, to the point that he matched the icing of his delicious cupcakes. Dean worked harder, trying to pay off Cas' hospital bills while at the same time spending every minute he could with his husband. Sam had begun working nonstop of the adoption papers, hoping that perhaps if their chances of having a child together would finally improve then maybe Cas wouldn't give up hope.

"Dean there's something you need to know about Ellen. I called her, about three weeks ago. About Cas. She said she could help and so she gathered everything and came as quickly as possible."

"What is it? What are you not telling me?"

Bobby stopped when they reached Dean's Impala. "Ellen and I went to med school together. We graduated, both of us married, and she had Jo. It wasn't until I started working at the hospital that I noticed that she was having some trouble. Soon her and Will divorced and she started getting into...unorthodox methods of healing."

"Unorthodox? Bobby, cut the shit. What the hell are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with my Cas?"

"Boy, all of this has to do with your Cas! Now shut your trap and let me talk," Bobby said, glaring. "Ellen got into healing."

"What?! Bobby, you've been drinking. There's no way that's true, and more than anything, this as nothing to do with Cas."

"When that happened," Bobby continued, "She realized she could help people, but never as a working doctor. She quit at the hospital after Sammy was born and left Lawrence. Your mother kept in contact with her, always making sure she was safe."

"What does my mother have to do with this." Dean felt his face tighten with worry and he sighed.

"She trusted Ellen more than anything in the world. Now you do too, boy."

"You're telling me that Sammy's godmother is practicing voodoo and is going to try to cure my husband's cancer? Bobby, you have to realize how this sounds."

"I'm not here to play dolls with you, Dean! I wanted to let you know because Ellen's with Cas right now. She's going to do everything she can."

"You let a voodoo woman near my husband!"

"No, I let the only hope you have left near him!"

Dean opened the door to the Impala, shaking his head. "This isn't right, Bobby. Cas is ready to go. Who are we to-"

Bobby slammed Dean into the Impala and said," Don't you dare tell me that Cas is ready to go! _None_ of us are ready to let him go, and I sure as hell know that is a load of bull, boy! You think that this is easy on any of us? Sam's out there bustin' his ass trying to get you two a baby. Your friends are doing everything to keep him fighting and you're here giving up the only hope you two have?"

"I've tried! I've tried, Bobby, to keep Cas fighting, to keep him with me! Do you know what it's like to love someone who's _dying_?!"

"Yes! You're not the only one who's ever lost their husband!"

Dean's eyes widen and Bobby pulled away from him, the fight in him dissipating. The older man moved away from the mechanic, aware that the other teachers and students of the mechanical school were watching. He took a deep breath and turned back to the young man. He ignored the familiar pinpricks of tears in his eyes, hurdling forward so that Dean could understand.

"My husband."

"Your husband?" Dean whispered, tears slipping down his face. Dr. Singer had always worn a wedding ring, but any questions Cas or Dean asked were usually ignored or the subject changed. The mechanic just thought that Bobby had a tough divorce or something similar.

"Had just what your Cas has. He refused treatment after 3 years. He said he was fine, but Crowley was...wastin' away. He used to sit with me, drinkin' that stupid whiskey of his and telling me about how we needed to visit our son, Gavin, in Scotland before it was too late. But soon he started to talk less. His whiskey glass sat beside him or in his hands. Wasn't until he dropped his glass that we realized it was time for him. We had the option too, you know. Of asking Ellen and helping Crowley have more time with his friends...with me. But I said no. Told Ellen she was crazy and that no way in Hell would she get near Crowley."

"He died soon after, didn't he?"

"Lasted three more months, but he was so miserable. Every day he was in agony. He would be sobbing sometimes and delirious, saying things about seeing Gavin. And I couldn't do more than sit there and watch," Bobby growled out, clenching his fists as the memories of his husband's pale, weathered face twisted in pain as he lay bedridden for his last few days. "And the last thing I want is for you and Cas to suffer through that pain. Pain that I caused my own husband because of my arrogance."

Silence fell as Bobby struggled to get his emotions under control and Dean tried to process the doctor's confession. The thought of watching Cas die in pain made the blonde man's heart clench horribly.

"She won't hurt him?"

"She'll save him."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

"Cas, there are no promises in life. I've learned that the hard way many times. But I can assure you that you will be okay," Ellen said, closing her old fashion doctor's bag as she got up. She brushed off her jeans and unrolled the sleeves of her unbuttoned plaid shirt.

"Thank you, Dr. Harvelle."

"I'm no doctor, Cas."

"You are more help to me than many modern doctors," Cas replied, leaning back against the sofa, exhausted from the numerous potions Ellen made him take. "And I'm in no position to deny your help."

"Just let sleep take you. And Cas?"

"Yes?" came the sleepy response. The man tried to keep his eyes open, but something was making him close them. Through thinly opened slits, he looked at the blurry shape of Ellen near the door.

"Pray to your God."

With that, Cas took a deep breath and slept.

* * *

"Cas? Cas! Baby, wake up!'

The man felt he was being pulled up from underwater. He had been floating in a dreamless paradise and for a second believed he was in Heaven before he was abruptly pulled out of his wonderful sleep.

"Mhmm...Dean?"

"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?"

Castiel smiled before pulling his lover into a deep kiss. "Like everything's going to be okay."

With that, Dean smiled and kissed his husband again.

Further in Lawrence, in a tiny cemetery by the town's only church, a bottle of whiskey was put on top of a headstone. Two glasses were set on top as well and Dr. Bobby Singer-MacLeod began talking about the rolling hills in Scotland he had visited a month ago to the headstone of his husband.


End file.
